The Death in the Willows (29 page)

He needed this quiet time, this serenity before his miniatures. He drank vodka and considered rearranging the living room. He carefully placed the glass back on the workbench and began to move furniture in the front parlor. It was an ordered place, a place without mayhem, where young men wore black suits with high Celluloid collars, went to work each morning, and courted girls on veranda swings before the diffused illumination of gas lamps.

“What you need is a Victrola. One of those little ones with a speaker horn and the listening dog.”

“If you wore shoes instead of those ridiculous half-assed sneakers, I would have heard you coming. The sherry's in the paint cabinet behind the gallon of gloss.”

“Martha must be away,” Lyon said as he extracted a bottle of wine and poured some into a second jelly glass.

“Boston. Do you think the sofa should go along this wall?” He made a minor adjustment to a four-inch-long divan.

“Probably. What are you doing about Fabian Bunting?”

“Turned what I had over to the state prosecutor, who promptly shipped it back. He thinks I'm nuts. People do die in convalescent homes, and this is the third scalding death we've had in the state this year.”

“Rustman's still missing.”

“Bea called me about that. He's probably holed up in some motel with a broad.”

“Kim says no. He would never do that in the midst of a strike.”

“How do you read it?” Rocco moved the bureau in the master bedroom.

“She saw someone kidnap Rustman and they disposed of her.”

“I called Pasquale in Hartford. The wife hasn't filed a missing persons yet.”

“I think you had better start looking for him. I have the feeling that if we find who took Rustman, we'll know who killed Fabian Bunting.”

“Back to square one—find Rustman.”

“You should.”

At Nutmeg Hill Lyon trundled the folded envelope out from the barn on a two-wheeled cart and began to spread out the hot-air balloon on the grass. It would probably be circumspect to wait until Bea returned home so that she could follow him in the chase truck, but he was impatient to be aloft. He would phone her when he landed.

When the envelope was extended its full length, he started the small compressor to drive air into the bag. When the balloon began to billow and the aperture was wide enough, he held the propane burner across his waist and lit the pilot light. The jutting flame whooshed to life and began to heat the air inside the balloon.

In minutes the balloon began to rise slowly from the ground until it bounced overhead. He attached the burner to the ring above the gondola and then gave the flame a few seconds of burn until the balloon stabilized. He made preflight checks and untied the safety line tethered to the large oak. One last burn and the balloon shot upward.

There was a slight wind from the northeast that would push the large balloon past the green over Murphysville. If his calculations were correct, he would eventually pass over the convalescent home.

He leaned over the edge of the wicker basket with his arms folded. A panorama of his life was spread out below. A few miles up the river was Middleburg College where he had taught until suddenly realizing one morning that he was able to support his family from the royalties of his children's books. Now the balloon was over the green. Below was police headquarters; two blocks to the right, near the steepled Congregational Church, was the house where he and Bea had once lived—until their little girl was struck down while riding her first bicycle. They had left the house that very day and never returned.

He shook his head to dispel the thoughts. The balloon was drifting slowly past the convalescent home. A thin line of pickets, fewer in number than yesterday, meandered down the home's front walk. His interest was held by the north side of the building where below the sun-room there was a walled courtyard enclosed on three sides. A dumpster was parked to one side of a loading platform. Any vehicle in the courtyard would be well hidden from the view of those on the line in front of the home. In fact, it might not be seen by anyone except an old lady at the sun-room window with an ancient pair of opera glasses.

That's how it had been. A car, truck, or perhaps a van had been parked in the enclosure. Rustman was thrust inside and driven away. Which way did they go? A turn to the left would take the vehicle toward the green and the most populous part of town. If it turned right, it would pass few homes until it was in the country.

The wind pushed the balloon past the home. He wondered if his aerial path was following the same direction as that taken by the vehicle bearing Rustman.

He was convinced that Rustman had been taken involuntarily from the home and that Fabian Bunting had seen the abduction. He had faith in Kim's assessment that Marty would never have left the area voluntarily when an important negotiating session was imminent. The question now was, What had they done with him?

The balloon reached the outskirts of town and began to pass over an undeveloped state forest. It was a dense area filled with heavy undergrowth and only utilized by hunters during the season. It was crisscrossed by old logging roads and a labyrinth of wooded coves and isolated cul-de-sacs.

Finding Rustman would be nearly an impossible task. In addition to the hundreds of acres of state forest, there was the nearby Connecticut River. He had known it to happen before—a week, month, or years from now a group of Boy Scouts might come across a shallow grave whose covering had been disturbed by predators. Or a fisherman on the river might snag a perforated oil drum made light by the buildup of internal gases from a decomposing body. Or Rustman might never be found.

It was time to pick a place to land, and he began to survey the ground below intently. The winding river to the right was flanked on each side by high bluffs. Most of the land below was woods, and directly ahead was the high stack of the Crown Point nuclear energy plant. His altitude was now dangerously low and his forward direction was neatly aligned with the top of the spewing smokestack.

Lyon knew that the stack released superheated steam into the atmosphere. If the balloon passed too close, the effect of the steam on the interior of the balloon envelope would be disastrous. There was no mechanism to steer the balloon, and the tall stack with its white column of steam was too high for the balloon to pass over, even with an additional propane burn.

He yanked the ripping panel. Huge gusts of hot air spilled from the open side of the envelope, and the balloon began a rapid descent. He calculated touchdown as safely forward of the reactor building and within the confines of the chain link fence that surrounded the facility.

As his rate of descent increased, he put on a crash helmet and gave the burner a few quick bursts of propane to slow the speed of his fall. When he was fifty feet from the ground, a siren wailed and uniformed men rushed from the gatehouse toward the main building. The balloon basket landed with a thump that tumbled Lyon Over the side.

He shook his head groggily. As his eyes began to focus, he found himself facing the barrels of four M-16s held at the ready by grim-faced men.

“It's customary to share a bottle of champagne at an unexpected landing,” Lyon said as four rifle bolts clicked four rounds into four chambers.

“If the first selectman sees this, my next year's budget is zip.” Rocco Herbert grimly drove the police cruiser back to Murphysville. The back of the car was stuffed with the rolled balloon envelope, while the wicker gondola was roped to the top.

“Those security guards don't have much sense of humor.”

“Who would when some idiot falls out of the sky in a vehicle that looks like it came from another century?”

“You're going to book me?”

“As far as those security guards are concerned, you're arrested for trespassing, unauthorized flight, and reckless endangerment.”

“But released on my own recognizance.”

“I'd like to put that balloon in storage as evidence forever. Did you find out anything?”

“That we're probably never going to find Rustman's body.”

“You're positive it's out there somewhere?”

“I think so. I think we'll have to approach things from a different angle. Perhaps some more information at the nursing home.”

“Bea is persona non grata out there.”

“She'll find a way. Have you turned up anything else?”

“Two of the strikers think they saw a red van drive from the courtyard of the nursing home about ten that morning. No one remembers who was in it or the license plate number.”

“That figures.”

The Murphysville Capella Cantorum was composed of thirty-five men and women of diverse backgrounds. They were businessmen and women, machinists, a professor or two from Middleburg College, and housewives. They met every Tuesday night for one purpose—to sing. They had made arrangements to give a lunch-hour concert to the inhabitants of the Murphysville Convalescent Home. Bea followed them in the pickup truck. She parked at the rear of the entourage as they assembled in front of the home.

While following the singers into the building, she noticed that the ranks of the strikers had noticeably thinned out. Kim marched resolutely with a picket sign, but only two other workers were present. The black woman looked her way and raised an eyebrow when Bea failed to respond. Kim nodded in understanding and marched in the other direction.

Inside the home Bea saw Dale Winters, the conductor of the group, talking with the administrator. Tanner directed the choir down the hall toward the recreation room on the first floor.

Marcia Dabner, who owned the Murphysville Pharmacy, fell in step with Bea. “I thought you tried out for the choir in sixty-five, Beatrice?”

“I did. As I recall, I was unanimously not accepted.”

“You've improved?”

“Nope.”

“Worse?”

“Probably.”

“Lord help us.”

“Just visiting. I promise not to spoil your concert.”

Bea peeled off from the herd of singers and entered the elevator. She simultaneously pushed the button for the second floor and the “close door” button. All the ambulatory patients and those who could sit comfortably in wheelchairs would be at the concert, as would most of the remaining help. The elevator door opened on the second floor. The nurses' station was vacant. She strode rapidly down the hall toward the PT room and she pushed through the doors.

The galvanized tub looked anything but ominous. She moved the small ladder stool toward the tub in which Bunting had died. She stepped up the ladder, let her feet dangle over the edge, and then jumped lightly into the empty tub. It was chest high, and she tried to imagine the buoyancy she would feel if it were filled with water. The hot and cold faucets were at the far side of the tub placed on the intake pipes near a temperature gauge that was three-quarters of the way down the side of the tub. She stood near the pipes and leaned over. Her fingers were barely able to brush the spigot handle. It seemed unlikely that the five-foot-two-inch Fabian Bunting would be physically capable of turning on the faucets from inside the tub. She discounted the possibility that her old teacher had adjusted the water from outside the tub and then crawled inside. The woman had just undergone a hip operation and had been confined to a wheelchair.

The evidence seemed more conclusive than ever that Bunting had been placed in the tub and then the scalding water had been turned on.

Bea climbed out of the tub and was about to push through the swinging doors when she noticed the two men.

Gustav Tanner was sitting on the edge of the station counter with his legs dangling off the side. Maginacolda leaned against the wall with the same insolent look that Bea had observed in the office during Rocco's interview. There was an intimacy between the two men. Maginacolda was speaking while Tanner seemed to be listening with great interest.

Tanner looked out of character. He always assumed the mantle of the irate manager and officious administrator. Casual banter with an aide seemed wrong, particularly when it was an employee who had once been a union steward.

Maginacolda noticed her. He jerked away from the wall, rushed toward the PT room doors, and pulled her into the hall. “What in hell are you doing here?”

“Looking for the ladies room.” He pushed her against the wall. “Hey!”

Tanner trembled in rage. “Who let you in?”

“I walked through the front door.”

The two men exchanged a quick look. Tanner shook his head. “Just get her out of here and don't let her back in!”

She was firmly escorted to the main entrance. Before the front door swung shut, Maginacolda grasped her arm painfully. “I wouldn't come back. Understand?”

Bea walked to her truck. She would tell Lyon what she had observed, but the physical abuse might better be left unsaid.

Afterward was nearly her favorite time. They lay flank to flank. A soft peace filled the bedroom as she nuzzled against Lyon's shoulder. His hand brushed lightly along her neck and she knew he was still awake.

“Thinking?”

“In a lazy way. I can't figure out what's going on at the nursing home.”

“You worry about finishing your book. I'll think about Tanner and the other one.” She sighed. “At least I'll think about it in the morning.”

He reached across in the dim light and picked up her bare arm and looked at the black-and-blue marks on her bicep. “What happened to you?”

She looked at the bruise that Maginacolda had made. “Oh, I don't know,” she lied. “I must have fallen against something.”

“Bea?”

The shrill ring of the phone saved her. He reached for the receiver on the bedside table. “Uh huh … Right … Rocco, do you think it might be Rustman?… Yes, I'll come and bring Kim to make the ID.… No, that's all right.” He hung up and slid from the bed.

“They've found the body?”